New And Vintage Timepieces Share The Spotlight At Watches & Wonders Miami

The inaugural Watches & Wonders Miami will be held February 16 – 19 at the Miami Design District. The public event is co-produced by the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), a Geneva-based organization that promotes fine watchmaking internationally and the Miami Design District, an 18-block “creative” neighborhood and shopping district dedicated to innovative fashion, design, art and architecture, led by real estate developer and art collector, Craig Robins, CEO of Dacra Development.

The weekend will include workshops, lectures, virtual reality experiences and art installations all geared toward watch lovers and connoisseurs. However, a major draw is that of the 21 watch brands participating in this event, 15 have retail spaces in the design district. Many of those stores are hosting special events and providing a first look in the U.S. of watches they are unveiling this year.

Parmigiani Fleurier is going a step further and releasing a new watch just for the event: the Tonda Annual Calendar with a retrograde date that needs adjustment just once per year (except during a leap year) and a precision moon phase that doesn’t need to be corrected for 122 years. The watch displays two representations of the moon—viewed from both the northern and southern hemispheres backed by a sparkling aventurine glass sky. It is powered by the in-house caliber PF339 automatic movement with a 50-hour power reserve.

Meanwhile, Bulgari is bringing its master watchmaker to its boutique for a first-hand look at how some of the company’s most important watches are made. In addition, it will have some of its most complicated watches on display, including the Divas’ Dream Finissima, Bulgari’s first ladies’ minute repeating watch; and the Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater, the world’s thinnest minute repeater.

The auction house Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo will exhibit highlights from its upcoming Spring 2018 auctions at Opera Gallery—including three Rolex Daytonas from its Daytona Ultimatum sale, curated by Pucci Papaleo, renowned collector, scholar, and author. In addition, Paul Boutros, Phillips’ head of Watches, Americas, will host a seminar on the market for vintage watches and the auction process for collectors.

The participating watch brands are as follows:

Boutiques

A. Lange & Söhne
Audemars Piguet
Bulgari
Cartier
Hermès
Hublot
IWC Schaffhausen
Jaeger-LeCoultre
Louis Vuitton
Panerai
Parmigiani Fleurier
Piaget
Tag Heuer
Vacheron Constantin
Van Cleef & Arpels

Pop-Up Boutiques

Armin Strom
F.P. Journe
Kari Voutilainen
Ralph Lauren
RJ-Romain Jerome
Romain Gauthier